The Nature of Knowledge in Quantum Mechanics

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In summary: So what's the point of observation then ?The point is that the wave function collapses, but that doesn't mean that the variables in the wave function suddenly become classical. The variables are still quantum, but they are localized in certain regions of space.
  • #1
kebugcheck
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It is ok for physics to distinguish between me and a rock out somewhere on the surface of Mars ? Who am I but a bag of chemicals ?

Why would my action of observing be of any significance ?
Why should the moon be "paged-in"/from-into-existence when I "observe" it and other times it is allowed to go for a walk(even if it is only a change in probability of finding the moon).
Why is my observing the moon any different from a "rock observing the moon" ?

I am a computer engineer, and recently started reading QM. I was displeased with what I inferred. Can somebody confirm this understanding that I have come about QM?
 
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  • #2
Don't worry, you don't have any special significance in QM.

The word "observer" in QM has unfortunate connotations, suggesting some special role for intelligent entities or whatever. There is no such special role. An "observation" is just the word we use to talk about an interaction between a system and its surroundings. So a rock is just as capable of being an "observer" as you are.
 
  • #3
Let me guess, you are reading a Pop Sci book on QM and not an actual physics book??

If you want to understand QM, then you really need to go into the physics and you need to work out the math. If you resort to Pop Sci books, then your understanding will always be flawed.

Anyway, I'm not a physicist at all, so I'll leave it to somebody else to give a scientific response.
 
  • #4
Hence, everything is getting observed by everything else always. If that were true, why special cases for a human's act of observation ?
 
  • #5
micromass said:
Let me guess, you are reading a Pop Sci book on QM and not an actual physics book??

If you want to understand QM, then you really need to go into the physics and you need to work out the math. If you resort to Pop Sci books, then your understanding will always be flawed.

Anyway, I'm not a physicist at all, so I'll leave it to somebody else to give a scientific response.

Source suggestions ? I have background in higher math and physics being an engineer.
FYI, I mostly read from google.

Links like : http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bell-theorem/
 
  • #6
why special cases for a human's act of observation ?
Because for the most part, human beings are more talkative than rocks. But right now, at the OPERA experiment under the Italian alps, stacks of photographic emulsions are "observing" tau neutrinos.
 
  • #7
I get that quantum phenomenon is not macroscopic.
But is't a macroscopic phenomenon a function of 'n' microscopic ?

If the non-determinism as shown by QM applies to microscopic entities, when do the laws of QM suddenly give up and the law of classical mechanics start ? When we observe.
But why only then?
 
  • #8
kebugcheck said:
Hence, everything is getting observed by everything else always. If that were true, why special cases for a human's act of observation ?

Who told you there is a special case for human's observation ? Have you been watching "Through the Wormhole" or similar junk?
 
  • #9
I second what The Duck wrote. Observation in physics usually means measurement by an instrument (sometimes human). In the context of QM, this is connected to the collapse of the wave function. See also Observer (quantum physics).
kebugcheck said:
Hence, everything is getting observed by everything else always.
Not in the context of mainstream QM; wave functions evolve by themselves without collapsing. A physical interaction with an instrument/object/observer (observation) yields a wave function collapse (many possible outcomes->one single outcome).
kebugcheck said:
If that were true, why special cases for a human's act of observation ?
Humans have no special role in mainstream QM/physics. Some interpretations have tried to address it in this way though, but it is quite far from mainstream views (and I personally don't think it's fruitful at all to mix QM with human consciousness). When you get into QM you will soon find out there are unresolved issues (e.g. how to interpret QM), see Interpretations of QM. The so-called Measurement problem is one of the most central questions.
 
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  • #10
In the textbook Copenhagen interpretation (eg. Landau and Lifgarbagez), quantum mechanics is incomplete. This is because it needs a measuring apparatus which is "classical", and not governed by quantum mechanics.

In the Bohmian interpretation, quantum mechanics is incomplete. Here the measurement problem is solved, and the problems of quantum mechanics are the problems of statistical mechanics (the postulation of the initial distribution is unjustified).

In the many-worlds interpretation, quantum mechanics is generally thought to be complete. I'm not sure about this, but that is what I seem to read.

There is a chapter discussing this in http://books.google.com/books?id=3PSHDohngVgC&dq=quantum+aharonov&source=gbs_navlinks_s (Chapter 3: Is quantum mechanics complete?)
 
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  • #11
well, any QM literature says "wave-function collapses" when observed.
I inferred that at microscopic level, everything is understood as a probability without any cause of that probability being bizarre.
Eg. cat dead/alive, moon present/absent, Single Photon both a particle and wave.

But on observation everything arranges itself according to laws of classical mechanics.
Thus, cat is either dead or alive and the photon becomes a particle and does not show interference pattern.
 
  • #12
kebugcheck said:
well, any QM literature says "wave-function collapses" when observed.
I inferred that at microscopic level, everything is understood as a probability without any cause of that probability being bizarre.
Eg. cat dead/alive, moon present/absent, Single Photon both a particle and wave.

But on observation everything arranges itself according to laws of classical mechanics.
Thus, cat is either dead or alive and the photon becomes a particle and does not show interference pattern.

Yes. The "wave function collapse" interpretation is called the Copenhagen interpretation. This is the most common interpretation, and it is incomplete. Try the reference in post #10 as a starting point. I don't believe there is any consensus as to whether any interpretations are satisfactory.
 
  • #13
atyy said:
In the textbook Copenhagen interpretation (eg. Landau and Lifgarbagez), quantum mechanics is incomplete. This is because it needs a measuring apparatus which is "classical", and not governed by quantum mechanics.

In the Bohmian interpretation, quantum mechanics is incomplete. Here the measurement problem is solved, and the problems of quantum mechanics are the problems of statistical mechanics (the postulation of the initial distribution is unjustified).

In the many-worlds interpretation, quantum mechanics is generally thought to be complete. I'm not sure about this, but that is what I seem to read.

There is a chapter discussing this in http://books.google.com/books?id=3PSHDohngVgC&dq=quantum+aharonov&source=gbs_navlinks_s (Chapter 3: Is quantum mechanics complete?)


I read somewhere that officially Heisenberg declared QM closed and a complete theory. It was 1 of the Wikipedia page about QM.
 
  • #14
QM is incomplete in the sense that:

Though we can mathematically describe/predict/model the things that happen on micro/quantum scale in an accurate manner

however we don't understand QM conceptually/in-reality yet.
 
  • #15
DennisN said:
I second what The Duck wrote. Observation in physics usually means measurement by an instrument (sometimes human). In the context of QM, this is connected to the collapse of the wave function. See also Observer (quantum physics).

Not in the context of mainstream QM; wave functions evolve by themselves without collapsing. A physical interaction with an instrument/object/observer (observation) yields a wave function collapse (many possible outcomes->one single outcome).

Humans have no special role in mainstream QM/physics. Some interpretations have tried to address it in this way though, but it is quite far from mainstream views (and I personally don't think it's fruitful at all to mix QM with human consciousness). When you get into QM you will soon find out there are unresolved issues (e.g. how to interpret QM), see Interpretations of QM. The so-called Measurement problem is one of the most central questions.

1>
I do not want to include "Humans consciousness" in QM.
I believe consciousness = chemical reaction.

But (some)QM literature makes the act of observing by a human unique.

2>

My main issue with QM is :-

*why should the non-determinism (even in form of probabilities) exists at microscopic level ? Am I the only one who finds it absurd ?
Cat is dead or it is alive. why does it needs to be both ?
A photon "knowing" that "ahead-lies-a-slit-and-I-should-behave-like-wave" makes more sense. This "knowing" can be due to something we do not know. Maybe the structure of space. Makes more sense than accepting that the moon may have gone for a walk right now.

*what point do QM laws give up and classical laws start ? Observation ? Why only our observation ?

3>
I will read up more on the links/books you folks have provided here.
Thanks for your replies. Appreciated.

PS: wishing I had chosen physics. This is so interesting :)
 
  • #16
universe creation explanation not available, no observers, rocks, whatever...
 
  • #17
This thread reeks of dishonesty and/or ignorance.

The assumption that human observations are equivalent to a rock observing is absolute nonsense.

How would you explain the double slit experiment where a 'measuring device' was left on but the information leaving the measuring device was not allowed to reach its destination and viewed (by humans) AND STILL resulting in a an interference pattern?

When the information leaving the measuring device was allowed to pass through and be observed, a double slit pattern was observed.

Naaaa nothing special going on here.
 
  • #18
Btw,
kebugcheck said:
I get that quantum phenomenon is not macroscopic.
Well, this is a little tricky question, you know :smile:. I could agree with you in some sense, but on the other hand disagree. Where do we draw the line between microscopic and macroscopic?
kebugcheck said:
But is't a macroscopic phenomenon a function of 'n' microscopic ?
In a sense, yes, "classical" macroscopic physical behavior can be seen as emerging from the behavior of miscroscopic systems (gravity is still a problem though, but that's another story). I'll give you some examples of "macroscopic QM" (there are more);

* Superconduction (e.g. SQUID)
* Superfluid Helium (clip)
* The double-slit experiment is a macroscopic demonstration (clip)
* This is a macroscopic demonstration (clip) of the Uncertainty Priciple.

Bonus material: The color of gold is a demo of microscopic relativity, pretty interesting I think + also the liquidity of mercury. Provided by me just to show macroscopic results of microscopic behavior.

(see also Macroscopic quantum phenomena)
 
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  • #19
kebugcheck said:
But (some)QM literature makes the act of observing by a human unique.
I would personally choose other literature (at least at first). I see no reason to cloud one's objectivity by introducing humans as special. But it's my personal opinion of course. A quite interesting question (from a psychological perspective IMO) is why some people seem to resort to the human perspective when discussing QM. It seems... unusual. We don't seem to need any human perspective when discussing, let's say, thermodynamics or relativity.
kebugcheck said:
why should the non-determinism (even in form of probabilities) exists at microscopic level ? Am I the only one who finds it absurd ?
No, you are not alone :smile:. But I would personally not call it absurd, but interesting, because:
atyy said:
I don't believe there is any consensus as to whether any interpretations are satisfactory.
I agree with atyy.
kebugcheck said:
This is so interesting :)
Yes!
 
  • #20
kebugcheck said:
I get that quantum phenomenon is not macroscopic.
I would like to add Bose-Einstein condensates to the counterexamples of DennisN.
kebugcheck said:
But (some)QM literature makes the act of observing by a human unique.
That literature is bad then, unless this option is just mentioned as one of many interpretations (and I don't think it has many supporters).
*why should the non-determinism (even in form of probabilities) exists at microscopic level ? Am I the only one who finds it absurd ?
There are interpretations where the time-evolution of the universe is deterministic, in particular the de-Broglie-Bohm theory and many worlds.

Cat is dead or it is alive. why does it needs to be both ?
Superpositions exist in all interpretations in some way. Otherwise, you could not perform double-slit experiments.

A photon "knowing" that "ahead-lies-a-slit-and-I-should-behave-like-wave" makes more sense.
No, it does not fit to experiments. You can decide what you want to measure even after the photon passed the slit(s).

micky_gta said:
How would you explain the double slit experiment where a 'measuring device' was left on but the information leaving the measuring device was not allowed to reach its destination and viewed (by humans) AND STILL resulting in a an interference pattern?
To get an interference pattern, this information has to be destroyed in a very fundamental way - in a way not even a rock could "observe" it.
 
  • #21
kebugcheck said:
But (some)QM literature makes the act of observing by a human unique.

Unfortunately there's a lot of nonsense written about QM. Your instincts that human consciousness should not be special are correct. Anyone who tries to associate QM with human consciousness is talking nonsense.

kebugcheck said:
*why should the non-determinism (even in form of probabilities) exists at microscopic level ? Am I the only one who finds it absurd ?

No, many people have an instinctive reaction against non-determinism. But keep in mind that the universe doesn't particularly care what you find absurd.

kebugcheck said:
Cat is dead or it is alive. why does it needs to be both ?

All we can do is look at the world and try to describe what we see, and what we see is that it is possible for things to be in "superpositions" of different states.

kebugcheck said:
*what point do QM laws give up and classical laws start ?

Classical mechanics arises gradually from quantum mechanics as you consider larger systems, in the same way that Newtonian mechanics arises gradually from special relativity as you consider slower speeds.
 
  • #22
kebugcheck said:
I get that quantum phenomenon is not macroscopic.
I also forgot the Tunnel diode, which makes use of quantum tunnelling.
 
  • #23
kebugcheck said:
Source suggestions ? I have background in higher math and physics being an engineer.

Then the book to get is - Quantum Mechanics - A Modern Development by Ballentine:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9810241054/?tag=pfamazon01-20

An observation is any device capable of recording an outcome - it has nothing to do with a conscious observer. But don't take my word for it - it's all explained in full detail in the reference above.

Thanks
Bill
 
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  • #24
mfb said:
To get an interference pattern, this information has to be destroyed in a very fundamental way - in a way not even a rock could "observe" it.

I do not understand your answer to my question?

my question: "How would you explain the double slit experiment where a 'measuring device' was left on but the information leaving the measuring device was not allowed to reach its destination and viewed (by humans) AND STILL resulting in a an interference pattern? "

People argue that its the measuring devices that causes the double slits to appear instead of an interference pattern when clearly experiments have shown that its not. Its where the information ends up and 'who' knows about it.
 
  • #25
micky_gta said:
I do not understand your answer to my question?

my question: "How would you explain the double slit experiment where a 'measuring device' was left on but the information leaving the measuring device was not allowed to reach its destination and viewed (by humans) AND STILL resulting in a an interference pattern? "

People argue that its the measuring devices that causes the double slits to appear instead of an interference pattern when clearly experiments have shown that its not. Its where the information ends up and 'who' knows about it.
If the environment knows about it (and we get decoherence), it is a measurement (and we destroy interference), otherwise it is not (and we get interference). It does not matter if a human, a dog, or a rock might receive the measurement result.

In other words, if you get an interference pattern, your measuring device did not really measure the position of the particle - it might have interacted with it, but there is no measurement result.
 
  • #26
kebugcheck said:
2>

My main issue with QM is :-

*why should the non-determinism (even in form of probabilities) exists at microscopic level ? Am I the only one who finds it absurd ?
Cat is dead or it is alive. why does it needs to be both ?
A photon "knowing" that "ahead-lies-a-slit-and-I-should-behave-like-wave" makes more sense. This "knowing" can be due to something we do not know. Maybe the structure of space. Makes more sense than accepting that the moon may have gone for a walk right now.

No one knows "why" the laws of physics are as they are. But being "reasonable" is not a requirement of those laws. Quantum mechanics is a great theory and it is very useful. The implications of it are subjective to each person, but it is certainly considered strange by most. That does not stop science from moving forward.

Many experiments have been performed to shed more light on things. So far, the basic theory from circa 1927 remains intact. You mentioned Bell's Theorem, this is a very important stepping stone to answering your original question.
 
  • #27
micky_gta said:
my question: "How would you explain the double slit experiment where a 'measuring device' was left on but the information leaving the measuring device was not allowed to reach its destination and viewed (by humans) AND STILL resulting in a an interference pattern? "

People argue that its the measuring devices that causes the double slits to appear instead of an interference pattern when clearly experiments have shown that its not. Its where the information ends up and 'who' knows about it.

The above is incorrect for a couple of reasons. If it is not observed by a human, we don't know what happened (interference or not). On the other hand, there is no evidence at all that human observation yields any special results - ie the opposite of what you are saying.
 
  • #28
DrChinese said:
If it is not observed by a human, we don't know what happened (interference or not).

Why is that? What is so special about a human? Why, for example, if the outcome was recorded in a computer wouldn't knowledge of what had happened exist just as well as if it was observed by a human? Would not wave function collapse occur exactly the same? Indeed once decoherence has occurred regardless of if an outcome has been recorded or not, has not, for all practical purposes, an observation occurred? As far as I can tell once decoherence has occurred and a pure state has been transformed into an improper mixed state then in effect an observation has occurred - at least for all practical purposes - by which I mean no experiment can tell otherwise.

I am very uneasy about this introduction of human observers into the theory even in saying things like you said above as I think it introduces unnecessary obfuscation. I know you are not advocating consciousnesses causes collapse but why introduce issues of 'human' observation at all?

Thanks
Bill
 
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  • #29
bhobba said:
Why is that? What is so special about a human? Why, for example, if the outcome was recorded in a computer wouldn't knowledge of what had happened exist just as well as if it was observed by a human? Would not wave function collapse occur exactly the same? Indeed once decoherence has occurred regardless of if an outcome has been recorded or not, has not, for all practical purposes, an observation occurred? As far as I can tell once decoherence has occurred and a pure state has been transformed into an improper mixed state then in effect an observation has occurred - at least for all practical purposes - by which I mean no experiment can tell otherwise.

I am very uneasy about this introduction of human observers into the theory even in saying things like you said above as I think it introduces unnecessary obfuscation. I know you are not advocating consciousnesses causes collapse but why introduce issues of 'human' observation at all?

Thanks
Bill

I think you misunderstood my comment. Logically, we NEVER know the result of ANY unobserved measurement. For if you did, you must have observed it! This has nothing to do with QM, it is just logic.

As to QM, there is NO element of it which says that there is anything special about human observers, consciousness, or similar. There are those who say there is that element, but that is just their own opinion. It is not generally accepted science.

Generally, in the double slit experiment, there is no interference pattern if it was even POSSIBLE for to know which slit even if the human didn't bother to try and collect that information. So I conclude that the physical presence of a conscious observer is NOT a primary determining factor in decoherence.
 
  • #30
Isn't this a similar case to the HUP and its dependence on what can be known about noncommuting observables, which introduces knowledge of the observer into where you clearly hate to see it? When people say knowledge, they always mean knowledge of the observer as there is no other knowledge.
 
  • #31
Maui said:
When people say knowledge, they always mean knowledge of the observer as there is no other knowledge.

Now Dr Chinese clarified what he meant I am cool with it. But, as a point of semantics, I personally do not agree with your view of 'knowledge'. IMHO knowledge exists once it is recorded - not when an 'observer' knows about it. But this is a philosophical issue not of any real value IMHO - I simply mention it as something that's open to debate.

Thanks
Bill
 
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1. What is the nature of knowledge in quantum mechanics?

The nature of knowledge in quantum mechanics is complex and multifaceted. It involves understanding the fundamental principles and laws that govern the behavior of particles at the subatomic level, as well as the mathematical tools used to describe and predict their behavior.

2. How does quantum mechanics challenge traditional notions of knowledge?

Quantum mechanics challenges traditional notions of knowledge by introducing concepts such as superposition and entanglement, which defy classical logic and our everyday understanding of the physical world. It also emphasizes the role of observation and measurement in shaping our understanding of reality.

3. Can we ever truly understand the nature of quantum knowledge?

While we have made significant progress in understanding the nature of quantum knowledge, there are still many unanswered questions and ongoing debates in the scientific community. It is possible that our understanding will continue to evolve and deepen as we make new discoveries and advancements in technology.

4. How does the uncertainty principle impact our knowledge of quantum mechanics?

The uncertainty principle, which states that we cannot know both the position and momentum of a particle with absolute certainty, has a significant impact on our knowledge of quantum mechanics. It highlights the inherent unpredictability and probabilistic nature of quantum systems, challenging our ability to fully understand and control them.

5. How does the observer effect play a role in the nature of quantum knowledge?

The observer effect, which suggests that the act of observing a quantum system can alter its behavior, is a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics. It raises questions about the role of consciousness and the limitations of our knowledge and understanding of the physical world.

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